Cascata Delle Marmore
by CourftheCat
Summary: On a holiday to Italy, Courfeyrac finds the perfect place to take Jehan to show him how he really feels. Courf/Jehan. Modern AU.


_**Hello lovely readers! Happy belated Valentine's Day! (Or Forever Alone Day depending on whether you've actually got a date.) So this is my slightly late Valentine's Day fic. I actually wrote this while I was in Italy in summer, and I've basically been sat there umming and ahhing about whether to put this up. This is a real place, I went there while I was in Italy, and I just thought "this would be great for a Courf/Jehan fic". So here it is! Constructive criticism welcome, but no flames please!**_

Courfeyrac sits gazing at his laptop screen. He's promised Jehan the perfect day out tomorrow, and it _needs_ to be perfect. Their holiday to Italy with the other Amis has turned hectic after Grantaire discovered the local supermarket has a whole room dedicated to wine; Enjolras is _still_ planning the revolution; Combeferre is insisting they take the three-hour journey to see the Roman Colosseum but giving them enough information to not even have to do the tour; Éponine is constantly trying to stop Gavroche and Azelma from putting the spiders they found in the bathroom into Marius' bed; Feuilly is always dragging Bahorel outside because no, he is _not_ smoking in front of Gav, the kid will only pick it up and twelve is not a good age to start smoking, if there is one; Cosette is the only one trying to keep the house tidy and would probably wok herself sick if Marius wasn't there to stop her; and Musichetta is trying desperately to keep her boys in check: they've only been in the country three days and Bossuet is covered in mosquito bites, whilst Joly got stung by a wasp on the first day and is only just starting to realise that he won't be getting anaphylactic shock any time soon. And Jehan is only inches away from exploding. Which is definitely worrying, considering his usually calm personality. So Courfeyrac has taken it upon himself to take his friend somewhere calm and relaxing to help take his mind off things. And he has found just the place.

It's called _Cascata Delle Marmore_, or the Marmore Waterfalls, and Courf is sure it's right up his street. And it's also the perfect place to tell Jehan of his growing feelings for him, somewhere private and away from the other Amis. The only thing he's really worried about is acceptance. What if Jehan doesn't return his feelings? Jehan would never, ever judge someone for anything, but rejection would crush Courfeyrac's heart completely, and possibly his friendship with Jehan as well. But Courf is willing to take that risk, if it means a lifetime with Jehan as more than a friend.

Courf sighs as he closes down his laptop. He just hopes everything will work out.

XXX

"So," Jehan begins as he slumps into the car with the bag of pizza for lunch. Courf sits in the driver's seat and looks up. "Where are we going?" Courf smiles and taps his nose.

"You'll have to wait and see, my friend," he grins, managing not to keep the quiver out of his voice on the word 'friend'. Jehan doesn't notice and just growls irritably; if there's one thing the poet hates, it's suspense. Sure, he can read through an Agatha Christie without skipping to the last chapter to see if it really was the most likely suspect, but that was because of the thrill of the chase. It's different when he's with Courfeyrac, because he's just so _impossible_ to read. Jehan's a natural at reading people like an open book, but Courf has always managed to stay closed. Jehan supposes that it's this attribute that first drew him to the energetic man; he just wanted to know. And he still hasn't got Courf figured out yet.

XXX 

Wait here," Courf grins as he gets out the car to grab tickets. Jehan frowns. If it were anyone else, he would not 'wait here'. But Courf has gone to some lengths to keep the trip a surprise, which was mostly just managing to cope with Jehan's nagging for the past hour. He sits still until Courf gets back. "Oh," he adds quickly, "You're probably going to get wet." He hands Jehan a leaflet reading 'Marmore Waterfalls'. Jehan breaks out into a grin and pulls Courfeyrac into a hug.

"Thanks, Courf," he murmurs. Courf smiles and returns the hug.

"Thank me when we're in there," he replies, pulling away from Jehan and leading him over the bridge.

They start on a trail and stop by one of the waterfalls, which is a lot smaller than on the leaflet.

"Where is it?" Courfeyrac murmurs worriedly. Jehan laughs beside him.

"Will you relax?" he kisses Courfeyrac's cheek, before blushing and hoping Courf just took it as a Jehan-ish thing to do and not what it really was. Courf didn't love _him_. "It says they use the waterfalls as electricity, so they only let the water through at certain points of the day. You really ought to read the leaflet, Courf." Courfeyrac blushes.

"Sorry. I just want today to be perfect." Jehan wraps his arms around Courf so that he can't move.

"It _is_ perfect." He suddenly opens the leaflet and points like a little kid. "Can we do this one?" Courf leans over to look. _Lover's Balcony_. Courf grins. That's exactly the place he wants.

"Yeah, sure." Suddenly a siren goes off.

"That means they're going to release the water," Jehan tells Courf.

"I hope this is okay," Courf mutters hoping Jehan won't hear. Jehan whacks his stomach.

"I love it, Courf, stop worrying. Besides, Lord Byron gave it good reviews."

"Jehan, he called it horrible."

"Horribly _beautiful_, Vivien." Courf gives Jehan a playful shove for using his first name.

XXX

It takes about ten minutes for the waterfall to get up to its full size, and Jehan pulls Courf down onto one of the small, rickety bridges to get hit by the spray. He stretches his arms out, laughing loudly and almost falling backwards at the sheer force of the waterfall. Courf puts his arms around him to steady him and Jehan laughs again.

"I'm the king of the world!" he yells. Courf giggles and Jehan falls in love once more. He looks back at Courf and intertwines their fingers, a slight blush covering his cheeks. "Do you think we could go and see that Lover's Balcony now?" he grins and Courfeyrac raises his eyebrows.

"What, while the waterfalls are like this? You'll get soaked!"

"I don't care!" Jehan laughs and Courf chuckles along with him.

"Well that's alright then," he smiles and tugs Jehan along with him.

XXX

"Come on, Courf, it's just a little water!" Jehan laughs from the other side of the mini waterfall that separates the tunnel from the balcony.

"A _lot_ water, Jehan," Courfeyrac corrects him. "Oh, what the heck!" he runs under the waterfalls to join Jehan on the balcony, ending up with dripping hair. They're the only two on the balcony and got that, Courf is happy. It's now or never…

"It says here," Jehan reads off the now-soaked leaflet, "That a man once jumped off this balcony so he could be with the water nymph he fell in love with, and that's why it's called the Lover's Balcony."

"I'd jump," Courfeyrac murmurs, "If it meant I could be with you."

"Really?" Jehan asks, the blush once again tinting his cheeks. Courf turns read as he realises he was musing out loud. "Because I'd jump. If it meant being with you." He looks at his feet, failing to hide his blush.

"Of course I would," Courfeyrac whispers, letting a shy, non-Courfeyrac smile onto his face. "I love you, Jehan. More than anything in the world." Jehan looks up, the blush still painted onto his cheeks, an anxious look in his eye.

"I love you too, Courf." And suddenly their lips are touching and there are hands in hair and everything is perfect. And Jehan knows who he'll be spending the rest of his life with.


End file.
